I Recommend ThisWordPress extension · Themeist
CVE-2023-28696
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Harish Chouhan, Themeist I Recommend This allows Cross Site Request Forgery.This issue affects I Recommend This: from n/a through 3.9.0.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the I Recommend This WordPress plugin allows attackers to trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions (such as manipulating recommendations) by forcing their browser to send malicious requests.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
I Recommend ThisWordPress extension
<= 3.9.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify the I Recommend This plugin is installedNavigate to WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'I Recommend This' by Themeist in the listAffected if The plugin is listed in the installed plugins
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Check the installed versionIn the Plugins list, find I Recommend This and note the version number displayed below the plugin name. Compare this version to the affected range: <= 3.9.0Affected if The installed version is 3.9.0 or lower
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Confirm the plugin is activeIn the Plugins list, verify the I Recommend This plugin shows as 'Active'Affected if The plugin is active and accessible on the site
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Inspect plugin code for CSRF protectionVia file manager or FTP, locate the plugin files in wp-content/plugins/i-recommend-this/ and examine PHP files that handle form submissions or AJAX requests. Search for the presence of wp_verify_nonce, check_ajax_referer, or nonce_field functionsAffected if Form/ajax handlers lack nonce verification code or the nonce check is missing from submission handlers
A user is affected if the I Recommend This plugin version 3.9.0 or lower is installed, active, and the plugin code does not implement WordPress nonce verification on its form submissions and AJAX requests.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataImplement WordPress nonces (anti-CSRF tokens) on all form submissions and AJAX requests, and verify these nonces server-side before processing any action.
Fix this in I Recommend This
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-28696 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-28696 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data